Saturday, November 3, 2012

Lily Ripper 03

The guard stumbled from under Anna and
headed to the street. His whistle screaming like a dying bird, a cry
for help from any city guards near bye. Off duty, but prepared, the
guard was.

Anna realized that she had been pushing
herself into the wall away from the body in the shadows. The haze of
illusion ran from her mind like rats jumping off a doomed ship, a
ship on fire, a mind on fire. The image stung, but she forced
herself to look as her Heart Mage training took over. Don't turn
away, Anna. Don't close your eyes. Savor it. "No." She
wimpered to herself, fighting the urge to run from this place.
"Don't make me."

One hand placed in front of the other.
One knee in front of the other. Anna realized she was crawling
closer to the image, drawing outlines around the curved shapes. It
was Mume, once. Now bloodless pale beads of mist polished the flesh
and inside. The meat showed underneath, carefully shaped and folded
to spiral like sun rays from the heart and out onto the cloth. From
the center, also, was a single strand of unused gore pulled and
curled down the body toward the crotch with bits cut and peels to
look like leaves on a flower stem. The thing's face was at rest,
peaceful, with a lily in it's lips.

No, not a thing, Anna thought. This
was a life lost. I'm running away again. The was a little girl.

"Great Bear!" The unfamiliar
voice came from behind Anna. Two sets of arms pulled her up. "It
never ends, do it?" He was another city guard, Borc, elder to
the young man who made the call.

"I donno if she can hear you,
sir." Said the young guard, also helping Anna up, "I think
it's the petal."

"I'm fine." Anna shook off
their assistance. "I'm fine. I think this is enough to sober
up the drunkest of borcs on a festival night."

"You sure?" Asked the borc.

Anna squatted down in front of the
body. "I... Yes, I'll be fine." She turned to the
younger Mume guard. "Do you recognize her?"

"Huh? Me?" Anna realized
the guard had his head turned away all this time. "I donno."

"Why him, miss?" The borc
put a hand on her shoulder to pull her up again. Bare skin against
bare skin.

She pulled away again. "I meant
no offense. You're night-shift, he's off duty, which means
day-shift. I figured he'd be more likely to see the child."
Anna turned to the mume, put a gloved hand on his chin and forced him
to look at her. "My eyes. Just look at my eyes. It's
alright."

"See here," the borc
protested.

"In a moment." Anna put her
other hand toward the borc, showing her black leather glove. A
signle inscribed on the back to prove she was Red Guard. "It's
okay, just look at my eyes." The young guard obeyed. "What's
your name?"

"Peter Leftgood."

"Peter. Very quickly, I want to
you look away from me at the girl's face, then back. Do you
understand?"

"Uh..."

"Go." Peter turned his gaze
at the child, then back. He looked more confuzed than horrified.
"Do you recognize her?"

"No. No, miss. Can I have my
chin back?" She let go. Peter quickly turned around and walked
away a few paces.

The borc pulled his cloak off. Green.
Anna hadn't noticed he had it on which made her curse the petal for
the first time in a few years. He covered the poor girl and motioned
Peter to return. "Knowing where she came from won't help
nothin', miss."

Looking at the cloak, Anna was suddenly
too aware she, herself, had neather cloak or jacket. Just her red
trousers and white armless shirt, as tho it hadn't been raining for
the last couple of days. She held herself and turned away. Nothing
more to see. "It would help the parents, Guard." And help
me to track down Lily, she thought. "You borc are made of
sterner stuff."

"Eh?"

"I could barely stand to look at
her."

"Oh, that." The borc stood
proudly and thumbed at himself. "I fought up north for the
empire back in my youth, miss. This is nothing. There's no blood.
Heard there never were none." He coughed. "Before I can
let you go, miss."

He wanted her address. The city guard
didn't investigate or search for killers, but all of them wanted lily
caught so they made an exception recently and tried their best to
think. Anna had offered to help them with their methods, but they
would have none of it. Still, at least this was progress.

"I'm just over around the corner.
At the Silver Wheat Inn." Anna offered her hand and was happy
to recieve a shake in return. "I'm Anna Goldeyes. Red Guard
Researcher Class."

"Lieutenant Morbin, miss. Annalow
City Guard...er...Night Watch class, I supose. Peter, over here.
Don' worry, son, she's covered up now." Peter still did his
best to look away from the body. "I want you to go to the
barracks and tell 'em what happened, then head home, son. You look
rough."

The haze returned in full force.
Tendrils of purple wrapped around Anna's legs and tugged the back to
the inn, oddly back the way she entered. "Lieutenant, can you
handle this?"

"Sure, miss. You head on back to
bed, you should. We'll get this mess taken care of."

Her feet pulled slowly, but she forced
them to stop. "Where do you take these bodies?"

"Only one place for 'em in
Annalow, miss."

The name "Duffworm" hovered
in front of Anna, but she didn't know why. Something about a
dungeon. She batted it away. "There's only one morgue. Of
course."

The borc tipped his helmet. "Miss."

Anna sunk into fog again. The mist
turned purple and blue. Only thin pin-pricks of light indicated her
progress through the streets. When she woke the next morning, she
was at the inn again. Her hand instinctively shot out to her jacket
and she was out the door.

-=-

UnSub

The previous account, including the
strange hallucinations, were written and delivered by me to Master
Drate along with the following querry.

"Recall my conversation with
Brishah. Is it possible to deduce information about a subject with
only the results of the crime or action they've left behind?"

After the incident, for record, Anna
was pleasant enough to send back the letter Master Drate had sent to
her.

"Anna, what you ask is of course
possible. Remember our creed when searching; For every action there
is an opposite reaction. A foot in the snow will leave an outline of
a foot for later. It takes a genital hand indeed to leave no trace
at all, or a mind trained in our invented art to remove the traces
forcibly. With that in mind we know that this 'Lily Ripper' is at a
disadvantage, especially if your mistress would set you loose upon
him or her.

"Let's create a definition first.
The subject, or prey of our investigation, is unknown to us. We
shall refer to him or her as the Unknown Subject, or 'Unsub' for
brevity. 'Lily' brings to mind a female subject, but we do not know
if this is true. UnSub is a thrid, neutral gender and a 10th neutral
race of person until we know otherwise.

"Now we look at UnSub's actions
and see what we can see. The first trace is the missing children
themselves. After two years, I'm sure mothers and fathers guard
their children closer during the spring rains, and that means UnSub
is someone who doesn't look like a shadowy figure or brutish monster,
rather they look normal, unassuming, or worse, trustworthy. Someone
that not only the children would allow close enough to them, but the
parents would as well.

"We also know there is death and,
strangly, the draining of blood. That fact speaks volumes for it's
absurdity and uniquness. Dear me, I've never even heard of such a
thing, but it's act still requires specialize location in the city.
There must be a place quiet enough to muffle any of the sounds of
assault on the child. More importantly, there must be a place that
one can dispose of blood without notice and often enough to
accommodate 10 bodies a year. Have you an unused slaughter cabin in
the city?

"UnSub's artistic attitude tells
us there is significance to their reason. This sort of murder is not
made from passion that you and I are aware of, rather some unknowable
significance. From what I know of your race, do not take offense if
I say that UnSub is most likely a mume. Quill tells me that mumes
have it in them a calling to bring something beautiful to the world.
She says your race is compulsed to art. These murders appear to me
to be a form of art. I'm also told that the blue Lily is a mume
funeral flower. Perhaps UnSub has affection for their victims?
Motivation may be a mystery to us even after the murderer is
captured. Keep that in mind.

"The one things about UnSub I find
most interesting the their ability to place the bodies without
notice. After so many assaults, you would think a concerned citizen
would notice UnSub with a blue sack large enough to hold a child
slung over their shoulder and report it to the city guard. The fact
this doesn't happens baffles me. The expensiveness of the blue dye
used on the cloth is a good indicator of UnSub's wealth, but it's
their ability to hide that smacks loudest of their cleverness. That
will be your biggest challenge.

"I recommend you track down
parents who know their children were taken. Also check with my
friend Duffworm at the morgue. He's a bit uncouth, but do not
underestimate his intelligence. To me he has proven loyalty,
friendship, and a powerful ally, especially if he has examined the
victims. If you can contact the City Guard without word getting back
to your supeiror, you may find other things, such as the other
locations of the victims, useful toward the investigation.

"Finally, with luck I wish you,
but also to easy your mind. Your superior may not agree with your
investigation, but I'll wager one of my finer clocks that they would
agree with your results. After all, is it not the Red Guard's duty
to protect the city from threats of assult and terror? I believe
UnSub has already afflicted Annalow with both.

Good luck,

Your friend,

Drate Felfkin"

Anna placed the letter on the table in
her tiny office. It's stone walls harbored more shelves with papers
and books that bricks. One would scarsly believe it was once a
prison cell. The level directly under the White Maiden's shrine was
transformed into reseach office and phasilities. If the White
Maiden's value feeling and dignity so much, Anna thought, you would
think the Red Guard would pay more attention to reason and method.
Not that it mattered to her. Most of the time she spent her days in
her head or outside observing random populous to practice, then
asking them if she was right.

For every action there was an opposite
action.

Anna walked outside and looked for
someone she didn't recognize. Only one walked down the steps into
the now well lit dungeons where her aquatences milled about with
their own work. Ah, she thought, practice.

White Maiden, meaning face unseeable as
they all wore veils that just cover their eyes. Hands, then.
Calloused and carrying a pouch of something. Bits of dirt in her
finger nails? Same with the gown she wore, tho she's done her best to
wash the grime away in one of the fountains. Knees are wet. Okay,
she's a gardener. White Maidens must keep bare feet in the church,
but her feet are clean and dry like the rest of her dress. She's
done plant work off the grounds or in a green house. It has been
raining all morning. Green house, then. That means works with
flowers and herbs. Both are used with alchemy research which means
Madeline Fallbringer on the other end of Research.

The Maiden saw Anna watching and walked
up. "Uh...excuse me..."

"Fallbringer is down that way to
the left. You'll smell the alchemy labs before you see them. Can't
miss it." The maiden's mouth fell open. With all Heart Magi,
you would need physical contact to read minds, but somehow Anna had
done so without being near her.

"Th- Okay. Thank you." She
bowed and left Anna with a smile on her face.